Posts by Simon

18

Striving for more

by punkofnice in

i hate my life!

i have to say it, but i do.. i have a sneaking suspicion that because i was raised in the dangerous jehovah borgness cult, that this is the reason.

i was told if god didn't watch me masturbating or smoking, then he'd let me live forever in perfect conditions.. i left the borg and as a result my jw wife left me and re-married another gung ho jobo.

Simon

It's easy to sometimes go through phases of your life where you feel you are in a rut, finding little joy in anything.

I find it good to have something to work on as a project that I can accomplish. I think everyone needs some goal whether it is building or creating something or helping others in some way. It gives us the purpose to get out of bed each morning.

Constantly looking back at the effect of the JW experience on our life is inevitable but doesn't help. But I think people often overlook the good times we enjoyed.

It's like leaving a crappy job you hate. Only years later do you think about the good experiences you had as part of it and maybe the people that our lives momentarily overlapped to our benefit.

One thing I've found that helps, which sounds utterly trivial, is to set a goal to make a stranger that you meet laugh or just smile that day. Like any "giving" it ends up making you feel great.

15

Prince Andrew, the Walls are Closing In

by Simon in

one thing i've learnt over the years is to read between the lines.. that means reading statements carefully.. if you have never met someone, would you say "i have never met them" or would you say "i don't remember ever meeting them"?.

the latter is just a get-out out in case evidence is presented that you did in fact meet them, because there is a photo of you with your arm around them in the upstairs of a pedo's friends, girlfriends house, which you also claim you never went to.. what will happen if the us jails a uk royal?

who knows.. before then i just hope he does another of those "utterly convincing" bizarre interviews to "prove" how he couldn't have done it because he is incapable of sweating (cut to photo of sweating andrew).

Simon

One thing I've learnt over the years is to read between the lines.

That means reading statements carefully.

If you have never met someone, would you say "I have never met them" or would you say "I don't remember ever meeting them"?

The latter is just a get-out out in case evidence is presented that you did in fact meet them, because there is a photo of you with your arm around them in the upstairs of a pedo's friends, girlfriends house, which you also claim you never went to.

What will happen if the US jails a UK royal? Who knows.

Before then I just hope he does another of those "utterly convincing" bizarre interviews to "prove" how he couldn't have done it because he is incapable of sweating (cut to photo of sweating Andrew). Comedy gold.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58153711

8

Did the Worst Ever Human Plague Cause Modernity-There's an argument that it did!

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

dr. andrew latham (a professor of political science at macalester college in saint paul, minnesota).

argues that the effects of this plague (in europe) changed europe and created the conditions that led to modernity.. it's an interesting thought, as we wander through the current pandemic.. this article was shared from the medievalists.net website.

https://www.medievalists.net/2021/08/the-black-death-and-the-great-transition/.

Simon

Might hasten the decline of print media, newspapers, magazines and books, too.

Pretty sure they have been on the way out for a long long time now.

Question is, will it cause modernity in China, the source of the virus?

They could do with some reset so they learn how to behave and treat animals in non-barbaric ways so people don't think they are a bunch of backward abusive cunts.

103

I'm now turned off by this site

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

in one form or another i've been a member of this site for almost 10 years.

in the past this was a great place for debate, news and support for ex jws.

i logged on several times a day and posted several times a week.

Simon

I wonder if some of the newer ones leaving may not have the same grasp of doctrine in general as some of the older folks?

I think some newbies may not care as much about actual doctrines but are more concerned with how leaving will affect their personal life and family relationships.

Definitely this.

The WTS members are way less "hardcore" than they were 30, 40, 50+ years ago. Back then it was all people searching for seeking answers and bible prophecy. Nowadays it's people looking for a lifestyle channel to follow. There's less investment and so less to walk away from.

The only consideration is the personal relationships because it was rarely about genuine "belief" because who believes shit anymore? It's about "your truth" and "your experience" after all, not absolute truth.

5

A suggestion to improve the site's search engine

by Disillusioned JW in

i wish the search engine of this site would gain the added feature of being able to search for exact phrases (such as by using quote marks around phrases).

that way i could find specific information on this site much more easily.

if a such a feature was available, then this site would be much more useful in finding relevant old posts..

Simon

Yeah, the search engine is really bad and needs updating.

Fun fact: Google are famous for their search engine, and they also have lots of cloud services ... but the search services they do (which it uses) is utterly terrible!

I've thought about showing the people who like & dislike, and also adding some other reactions. The original intent was to provide a dislike click so people would be satisfied voicing their displeasure using that rather than posting something that created larger conflict.

But online hostility moved on since then ...

43

On the current migrant crisis

by LoveUniHateExams in

thousands of migrants have come to england this year, already beating last year's total.. some may have fled syria and other war-torn countries; others are economic migrants.. let me try to get my head around this phenomenon: migrants are relatively safe in france and other countries.

they then leave the relative safety of continental europe and risk their lives and that of their children by crossing the english channel in rubber dinghies.

there's just no fixing stupid, is there .

Simon

Phizzy: I fact-checked your post and found it to be blatant lies and propaganda. So it's removed. You're welcome.

There are clear rules about how to seek asylum - it's a form of legal immigration. People shouldn't be crossing borders illegally in order to jump the queue or get into a country that they would not qualify to do so as a genuine asylum seeker.

We are countries of law and order and should now be importing the lawless and unordered.

43

On the current migrant crisis

by LoveUniHateExams in

thousands of migrants have come to england this year, already beating last year's total.. some may have fled syria and other war-torn countries; others are economic migrants.. let me try to get my head around this phenomenon: migrants are relatively safe in france and other countries.

they then leave the relative safety of continental europe and risk their lives and that of their children by crossing the english channel in rubber dinghies.

there's just no fixing stupid, is there .

Simon

It is certainly a crisis for the people in the boats.

Don't get in a dodgy boat. If you do, it's all on you.

7

Never expect anyone to solve a problem when their livelihood depends on that problem existing

by Simon in

imagine you were a leader of a "gender equality" group started as part of the 'metoo' movement?.

now fast-forward and you're the one trying to discredit victims who have come forward with accusations.

but not they are accusations against someone you work for.. it's a perfect example of how activists so often end up unwittingly (or quite intentionally) perpetuating the very problem they claim to be against.

Simon

Imagine you were a leader of a "gender equality" group started as part of the 'metoo' movement?

Now fast-forward and you're the one trying to discredit victims who have come forward with accusations. But not they are accusations against someone you work for.

It's a perfect example of how activists so often end up unwittingly (or quite intentionally) perpetuating the very problem they claim to be against. Because they are hypocrites or their position, power and / or income depend upon that problem existing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58153726

103

I'm now turned off by this site

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

in one form or another i've been a member of this site for almost 10 years.

in the past this was a great place for debate, news and support for ex jws.

i logged on several times a day and posted several times a week.

Simon

I love how people seem to imagine that years ago all we did was debate the bible in depth in between talking about rainbows and kittens.

Maybe you scrolled past the WoMD / Iraq War discussions? It was like fight-club at times! Disclaimer: I've never actually seen that movie, I just hope the title applies - it must have fighting in, right? My fall back was "the Karate Kid" ... 'cause it too has fighting ...

Maybe that's the trick - to just do some scrolling if there's a discussion you don't like.

What we won't be doing is falling for the bleating whines of those who would like to silence some points of view from being discussed. They are easy to spot - they use labels like "right wing" for anything they disagree with as though there are actual real-live jack-booted fascists marching around, when in reality it's usually just people expressing a mildly conservative opinion that is simply not extremist socialist.

If you don't like the forum or the way it's run, your browser has a button where you can register your complaint: on Windows, it's an X in the top right, on Mac, it's a red-circle on the top left.

35

Electric Vehicles ... or Auto Unions?

by Simon in

apparently biden had an electric vehicle summit earlier this week.. tell me the first name that comes to mind when it comes to electric vehicles?.

tesla ... right?

they have practically defined the segment after all.. but which company wasn't invited to biden's electric vehicle summit?.

Simon

I remember when Musk promised he would have an affordable electric family sedan (under 35k) within 3-5 years after he launched the Roadster.

That is now more than a decade ago.

VW made similar promises, as did Toyota when they made the Prius and Nissan when they started their Hybrid program.

The reason electric cars are all priced within a certain price range comes down to politics: when people start handing out subsidies for car-buyers to buy them as long as they cost a certain amount, what do you imagine that does to the price?

If the limit to get a subsidy is $60,000 guess how much the car is going to cost ...

Because car makers are not stupid, but politicians are.

Why kill yourself making low-profit, mass-market products when you get government handouts to make luxury items for the wealthy that the government is going to subsidize the purchase of.

BTW: Tesla don't make money selling cars. They make money by being given carbon tax credits. Coupled with the subsidies, we're effectively all paying for someone's Tesla - we just don't get to drive it.